Backup your Mac.
- Thread starter Kaveman
- Start date
Not that I am the expert, BUT...
I run Super Duper on to two partitions alternately on one external 2TB HDD and Time Machine (yes, I still battle on with it!) on the networked WDMyCloud 4TB external HDD. (The latter is my personal "cloud" accessible from anywhere in the world with my permission). Super Duper seems very well behaved.
Time machine then faulted 65days ago but waited 59 days before telling me my most recent backup was 59 days old. I tried "Back up now" and it told me it had succeeded then went back to telling me the most recent backup was 59 days old. Trying again, it told me that my "sparse bundle" was being accessed by another application. Time machine would not work.
I had to re-set my connection with the networked drive because the password I had recorded for admin access would not work (MY fault I guess...). Time Machine is working again BUT ONLY FROM THAT MOMENT OF RESET. So I can't access any of the old file versions prior to re-set (not too bothered about that...).
BUT, I guess that if you made a copy of today's "Sparse bundle" file on a separate external HDD, label it and pop it away on a shelf, Time Machine would continue overwriting old stuff on the connected HDD but would be able to access the info on the archived drive if needed...
I run Super Duper on to two partitions alternately on one external 2TB HDD and Time Machine (yes, I still battle on with it!) on the networked WDMyCloud 4TB external HDD. (The latter is my personal "cloud" accessible from anywhere in the world with my permission). Super Duper seems very well behaved.
Time machine then faulted 65days ago but waited 59 days before telling me my most recent backup was 59 days old. I tried "Back up now" and it told me it had succeeded then went back to telling me the most recent backup was 59 days old. Trying again, it told me that my "sparse bundle" was being accessed by another application. Time machine would not work.
I had to re-set my connection with the networked drive because the password I had recorded for admin access would not work (MY fault I guess...). Time Machine is working again BUT ONLY FROM THAT MOMENT OF RESET. So I can't access any of the old file versions prior to re-set (not too bothered about that...).
BUT, I guess that if you made a copy of today's "Sparse bundle" file on a separate external HDD, label it and pop it away on a shelf, Time Machine would continue overwriting old stuff on the connected HDD but would be able to access the info on the archived drive if needed...
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I also have never used Time Machine, and for my purposes, Super Duper is perfect. I use it to back up each of my machines to two external hard drives once a week (usually on Saturdays). Also, prior to going on a trip, I use Super Duper to back up my Mac Book Air to a portable, external hard drive that I take with us (also has movies and TV series on it).
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TimeMachine is very sensitive to any Network problems, as it should be. And while it is very much a set and forget thing, it's important to keep an eye on it to ensure it's working. Esp. with mobile laptops. I don't think backing up is an either/or situation, I use both. My very important drives are mirrored with CCC every Wednesday night AND our working computers are TM'ed all the time.
Being able to go into a document, roll back the clock and see past edits has saved me on more than on occasion.
I love TM's ease of use and integration.
Also with CCC or other cloneing types of backups it's easy for lost or overwritten files to propagate into the backup, so in some cases they only save you for a week.
As to a system that gives a full archive that will last the test of years, hmm
Being able to go into a document, roll back the clock and see past edits has saved me on more than on occasion.
I love TM's ease of use and integration.
Also with CCC or other cloneing types of backups it's easy for lost or overwritten files to propagate into the backup, so in some cases they only save you for a week.
As to a system that gives a full archive that will last the test of years, hmm
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Understand. As I said, for my purposes, the once a week cloning/backup via Super Duper suits me just fine.
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For me Time Machine works perfectly. It never let me down. I too clone my Startup drive with Stellar Drive Clone and also schedule weekly backups. In all everything is backed up 
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I have been using a "free" version of SuperDuper! for quite some time to backup both my Mac Mini and Mac Book Air to two external drives, and it works great! In fact, about 2 months ago, it "saved" my bacon, so to speak, on my Mac Mini, as I was able to do a full restore from the most recent SuperDuper! backup taken two days earlier.
The reason I say "free" version is that one can download SuperDuper! and use it for free, but it does lack two things:
1. Scheduled backups.
2. Does not backup the Recovery HD partition.
The paid version does have those features. The lack of Scheduled backups does not bother me, and there is a third party, free product called Recovery Partition Creator that does exactly what it says: create the Recovery partition/software. It's now at version 3.8, but not yet compatible with Yosemite. An update is expected real soon.
I perform cleaning/maintenance/backup processing once a week (usually on Saturdays) for both my Macs. The products I use are Onyx (now at version 2.8.8), TechTool Pro (now at version 7.0.5, and Yosemite compatible), and SuperDuper! (now at version 2.7.3). Such products keep my Macs in good to excellent shape, and of course, I have the bootable backups.
The reason I say "free" version is that one can download SuperDuper! and use it for free, but it does lack two things:
1. Scheduled backups.
2. Does not backup the Recovery HD partition.
The paid version does have those features. The lack of Scheduled backups does not bother me, and there is a third party, free product called Recovery Partition Creator that does exactly what it says: create the Recovery partition/software. It's now at version 3.8, but not yet compatible with Yosemite. An update is expected real soon.
I perform cleaning/maintenance/backup processing once a week (usually on Saturdays) for both my Macs. The products I use are Onyx (now at version 2.8.8), TechTool Pro (now at version 7.0.5, and Yosemite compatible), and SuperDuper! (now at version 2.7.3). Such products keep my Macs in good to excellent shape, and of course, I have the bootable backups.
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I've always backed up my computer with Time Machine but have never had to retrieve anything. How do you do it?
I upgraded to Mavericks a few months ago and discovered after much confusion that the "Mail downloads" folder completely disappeared. I can't download files that came attached to e-mail messages to anywhere but the regular "download" folder; whereas when I had Snow Leopard I could save them to anywhere I wanted. I know these two questions are related.
If I go back through the Time Machine to the point where I still had Snow Leopard, I can find the whole "mail downloads" directory. Is there a way to get it back through Time Machine without losing everything I've done on my computer since then? I don't know how to retrieve things from Time Machine, having never had to do it.
Jim A.
I upgraded to Mavericks a few months ago and discovered after much confusion that the "Mail downloads" folder completely disappeared. I can't download files that came attached to e-mail messages to anywhere but the regular "download" folder; whereas when I had Snow Leopard I could save them to anywhere I wanted. I know these two questions are related.
If I go back through the Time Machine to the point where I still had Snow Leopard, I can find the whole "mail downloads" directory. Is there a way to get it back through Time Machine without losing everything I've done on my computer since then? I don't know how to retrieve things from Time Machine, having never had to do it.
Jim A.
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I don't use Time Machine (much prefer SuperDuper!), but within this link, it explains how to retrieve files/folders from a Time Machine backup:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250
You can take back up before update OS X in Mac using this.
Hi,
Time Machine not only keeps a copy of everything on your backup disk, it also saves “local snapshots” of files that have changed on your internal disk,When I use Time Machine on a portable computer, so that I can recover previous versions.Therefor, if you accidentally delete or change a file, you can use Time Machine to recover it.
Time Machine not only keeps a copy of everything on your backup disk, it also saves “local snapshots” of files that have changed on your internal disk,When I use Time Machine on a portable computer, so that I can recover previous versions.Therefor, if you accidentally delete or change a file, you can use Time Machine to recover it.
Any news from here?Hi,
Time Machine not only keeps a copy of everything on your backup disk, it also saves “local snapshots” of files that have changed on your internal disk,When I use Time Machine on a portable computer, so that I can recover previous versions.Therefor, if you accidentally delete or change a file, you can use Time Machine to recover it.Casesam Samsung Galaxy S6 leather case
I have a WD "My Passport" hooked to Time Machine, but can't seem to go back to previous backups. Attached are three screen shots to show what I see. What am I doing wrong ? The last SS with the 5 folders leads me nowhere ? I am trying to go back to find a photo saved with layers in the past and then deleted ? Any help is appreciated.
Attachments
Cory Cooper
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Where was the photo originally?
You may want to navigate to the folder it was in, then enter Time Machine itself, and scroll back in time to that date. It should then show you the file, which you can then restore. Navigating the Time Machine structure manually isn't advised, unless you are very experienced.
C
You may want to navigate to the folder it was in, then enter Time Machine itself, and scroll back in time to that date. It should then show you the file, which you can then restore. Navigating the Time Machine structure manually isn't advised, unless you are very experienced.
C
Thanks for the reply. I never realizedTime Machine was a program to be searched. I thought it was just a way to backup and the they would be accessed in the backup folder on my "Passport". I have the idea now, and the original photo !! I went back to the date created of the flattened photo and there it was. Many thanks. Senior moments all day long 1
Cory Cooper
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No worries...glad it's sorted.
C
C
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I cannot think of any reason to use USB flash drives for backups. First off, read the reviews of the most popular 128 GB USB flash drive on Newegg and ask yourself if you want to use that for backups: Read More My own backup hard drive is encrypted and cloned to a 2 TB external hard drive using Stellar Clone utility. Of course I have Time Machine backup too. These days one cannot rely on a single source of data backup.
thanks for the explanation. So an SSD is a better option for backup?